


Human

by nesryn



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Death, Maybe - Freeform, Sorry?, also a fair few ocs because there's always new characters in a new season of a show, and, eventual Klance so hey, it gets dark okay, just... proceed with caution on this one, major character death I guess as well, mentions of a past of alcohol abuse, mentions of ptsd and other mental illnesses, prisoner experimentation, swearing and etc (they're teenagers/adults after all)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-08-28 04:44:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8432314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nesryn/pseuds/nesryn
Summary: “Coran, what’s happening?” All Keith could hear was Shiro’s voice, firm and desperate. The wormhole around him looked wrong, wrong, wrong.“The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised. It’s breaking down!” Coran’s words didn’t make sense. Keith gripped Red’s controls and tried to breathe. Everything was happening too fast. It felt like the wormhole was collapsing in around him, which is could well be.“What does that mean?” Lance voice asked over the headset. Keith was glad someone did.“It means we have no control over where we’re going.”





	1. one

“Why do we always break the law at night?”

Rai rolled her eyes at her friend Bondi’s stress. “To add a mystical feeling to it all.”

Bondi snorted nervously. “With the shit you do, it wouldn’t surprise me.” Rai would tell him to shut up, but he was keeping his voice low and quiet. Sound carried at night, but Bondi was a top recruit at the Garrison for a reason. He has a brain in his head.

Besides, Millie beat her to the punch. “If you two are just going to chatter all night, could you at _least_ turn off the headset,” The sniper grumbled over the airwaves. Rai knew there was a reason Millie was upset, and it wasn’t because of her and Bondi. Millie Anderson hated being left behind. It had been a logical decision, Millie’s skill as a sniper leaving her as the best option to keep watch, but that didn’t mean she liked it. She did love being a disembodied voice at times, though.

 

Bondi lifted his binoculars (tech from the Garrison) and aimed them in the direction they were walking. Immediately, his expression dropped. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Rai reached for the binoculars. As she adjusted them, Bondi whistled.

“We’re so getting kicked out of the Garrison for this.”

Rai snorted. “Your problem, not mine.” It had been a long time since she’d been a student there. The high-tech binoculars cut through the darkness of the night and focused on an object outside a Garrison tent. Suddenly, Rai could understand Bondi’s reaction. Lying in front of them, was a spacecraft that clearly wasn’t Galra tech. In fact, it didn’t look like it came from Earth at all. The only thing _earthly_ about it was that it was on the back of a Garrison tow truck.

“Millie? You seeing this?”

“Hold up.” There was a pause as Millie adjusted her scope, then, “Oh, _wow_.”

Rai’s heart skipped a beat, and her palms felt sweaty beneath her slim gloves. For the past year, she’d sorted through piles of illegally acquired intelligence from the Garrison, anything they had on their space program, just _looking_. Finally, she’d found something.

 

“What do we want to do?” Bondi asked, reaching absently for the gun by his side. It was standard issue for recruits at the Garrison, set to stun, but Rai knew he didn’t have much experience firing it. Maybe it was the comfort of knowing he wasn’t completely undefended that helped. She definitely felt better when her pistols were strapped to her belt. “Rai, it’s your call,” Millie told her. It was an unspoken agreement between the three of them that when anything important had to be decided, she had the final say. If they were caught, Millie and Bondi had the most at stake, but they still trusted her with this. In some ways, she had more to lose than they both did. “We’ll go take a look.”

 

* * *

 

 

There was a reason Bondi had come with her, and it wasn’t his lack of skill with his gun. When they trekked across the desert to the spacecraft, it was predictably locked with Garrison tech. Bondi crouched down, attaching a device of his own making to the lock. Being presented with an issue he could solve, his stress seemed to dissipate. As Bondi worked, Rai inspected the spacecraft closer. It was smaller than she expected, all dark colours. Rai was more concerned with the lack of guards. Millie hadn’t seen any from her position, and Rai hadn’t seen any when they came closer. She assumed they would be inside the tent, but it was all quiet inside as well. Dismissing the issue to the back of her mind, Rai ran a hand along the exterior of the craft. The material was cool, despite the heat of the day not being long gone. It was small for a spacecraft, and Rai ran all the possibilities through her mind. “It’s an escape pod,” Rai murmured.

“What?” Millie asked, startling Rai. She’d nearly forgotten the other girl was listening.

“I think it’s an escape pod.” Rai looked over at Bondi, but he was totally focused on his task. He spared only a second to glance over at her.

“Why would an alien escape to Earth?” Millie asked.

“Maybe it wasn’t an alien,” Rai said, half to herself. Her body felt cold, and she felt the presence of the tent behind her acutely. Maybe _he_ was inside.

 

“I’m in,” Bondi announced, swinging the door of the escape pod open. Rai came up beside him, peering inside. Beyond the doorway it was dark, and she swung her bag off her shoulders to find her torch. “Stay here,” she told Bondi.

“No arguments here.”

“Your courage inspires us all,” Millie teased.

“Mate, I will turn my headset off.”

Rai held up her hand to motion for Bondi to be quiet and crept inside. The torch landed on a control panel, and then a pilot's seat. Straps holding someone in place had been cut, and Rai moved over to look closer. Clean, surgical cuts, not a rip. The Garrison had problem cut whoever, or whatever, was inside out. Rai felt like she was close to something, something just out of reach. “Rai? What’s going on in there?” Millie asked.

“Someone was inside.” Rai kept her voice low, the atmosphere of the escape pod getting to her. 

“Your brother?” 

She swallowed a lump in her throat. “That’s a possibility.” Rai lingered for a moment more, her hand resting on the alien controls, before spinning on her heel and walking out. Nothing inside the pod itself could help her. The tech was alien, meaning Bondi had no clue how it worked and they couldn’t get anything out of it. 

 

Something felt wrong about the escape pod. Where had it _come from_? It had already been here a week, Millie and Bondi had estimated when they called her, so why hadn’t the Garrison moved it somewhere less visible? Unfortunately, it couldn’t answer her questions. Bondi was waiting at the doorway when she walked out of the Pod, his face grim. “There, next.” Rai pointed toward the Garrison tent. That could give them the information they wanted.

 

The coast was clear, the outside of the tent completely deserted. Rai went inside first, Bondi covering her from behind. Instantly, she pressed him back against the wall. Inside the entrance of the tent, there was a singular guard. He looked young, about her older brother’s age maybe, and bored out of his mind. “There’s a guard,” Rai whispered, for Millie’s sake.

“What? The area looked totally dead.”

“Apparently not,” Bondi drawled, his accent making it more evident. “I think he’s on his phone, though.”

“What’s he guarding?”

Rai crept forward, reaching for her gun. “Good question.” The guard didn’t even see her coming and crumpled to the ground moments after she struck him in the head. “The Garrison’s finest,” she joked.

“What just happened?” Millie asked.

“Rai knocked him out,” Bondi explained. He stepped forward to help her lift the body onto a chair without even blinking an eye. This guy wasn’t the first she had knocked out in his presence. “I reckon we have about a minute before he comes conscious. Unless you’ve killed him, or given him brain damage, that is.”

“Well, he’s still breathing,” She pointed out. Bondi snorted, shaking his blond hair out of his eyes.

“Great. He’s probably just _brain_ dead instead. I’ll find something to tie him up with. Millie, we’ll turn off now. Let you know if you need to shoot someone.”

“Alright. I’ll keep watch up here.”

 

As Bondi searched, Rai investigated the interior of the tent. It wasn’t a very impressive find, compared to what was outside. The table in the middle of the room did grab her attention for a moment. It was cleared off, but there were straps on the sides that had clearly been cut. Whoever had been here, was gone. Rai didn’t like how empty everything seemed. There was an alien spaceship sitting right outside, and one guard protecting it. Protecting the tent, more like. 

 

Bondi made a noise and drew her attention over to him. The desk in the corner he was rummaging through was piled with paperwork, but also a shiny laptop plugged into a cable coming from the wall. Rai joined her friend at the desk and opened the laptop. Her brief endeavour came to a close when she saw the device was, inevitably, password protected. Rai motioned to Bondi. “Switch.”

He cracked his fingers theatrically and began working. The guard started to stir in his chair, so Rai took over the search for something to tie him down with. Her hands landed on something round, and silver. “Duct tape—perfect.”

“If I’m meant to hack into a government laptop that _actually_ has decent security on it, I’m gonna need you to shut up,” Bondi cut in. His face was pale, and his fingers flying across the keyboard with startling rapidity. The stress was, obviously, getting to him. Rai accordingly shut up and focused her energy on tying the guard up. By the time he was fully conscious again, she had him secured to the seat with his eyes and mouth covered in tape. If she was caught, she didn’t care, but Rai didn’t want Bondi and Millie losing their careers because of her.

 

Bondi cursed as he worked, still hunched over the desk. “Do you want to sit down?” She asked.

He shook his head shortly. “I’m nearly in.” A few moments later, the frown on his face disappeared. “Cracked it.”

“Knew you could,” she teased, joining him at the desk and taking the laptop from his hands. The two of them sat against the wall, careful to leave all the cords still plugged in. “It’s why you’re friends with me,” Bondi said. He reached for the laptop and started searching through folders. Eventually, they tracked down the saved recordings of the security footage inside the tent. Bondi hovered over the play button, looking to her. “You’re sure?”

She shrugged. “May as well.”

 

The footage started when the tent they were sitting in was still being set up. The crew was frantic, obviously working as fast as they could. Panel after panel of wall was slid into place, the construction happening at night. The same night, she realised, that the escape pod had landed. It had been a fluke that Rai had even heard about it. Millie had seen it sneaking back into her room at the Garrison, and had called her up. Rai had been several states away at the same, looking up other leads, but dropped everything to see what it was. Then, they’d had to plan this very night with the assumption there would be more security. Evidently, something had drawn the Garrison’s attention elsewhere.

 

Bondi fast forwarded through the footage to where the construction was complete. Rai noticed that there was only one thing missing from the room: the table. As she watched, it was wheeled inside. Following it were two guards in Hazmat suits, carrying an unconscious man between them. At first, Rai didn’t recognise him. Instead, she saw a man with mismatched black and white hair, hardened muscle and totally out of it. Then his head lolled back on his shoulders and she saw her brother. “Oh, _god_.” She gripped at the edge of the computer, her head spinning. “Shiro?”

 

Over a year ago, her older brother had left Earth for an exploratory mission to Kerberos, one of Pluto’s moons. A year ago, he’d disappeared, him and the rest of his crew. The Garrison had labelled the disappearance as being caused by Pilot error, but Rai couldn’t believe that. Her brother and his crew were the best in the Garrison. They didn’t make errors. Soon after she’d heard the news, Rai had dropped out and gone underground to do some digging.

 

Her breathing went shallow, and Bondi grabbed her fingers. Shiro was strapped to the table by scientists, who began drawing phials of blood from him. “So much for consent,” Bondi muttered.

“This is the Garrison we’re talking about,” She reminded him. Her tone was dark, she knew, but so were her emotions. Her brother, who had been presumed dead for a _year_ had crash-landed on Earth, and they don’t even wait to see if he’s okay before exploiting him?

 

Shiro comes conscious and starts tugging at the bonds. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

“Shiro, you’re at the Garrison. You crash landed on Earth.”

Her brother continued to struggle, frustration creeping into his voice. “No, I know. But why am I here? Where’s my family?”

Rai closed her eyes tight, feeling overwhelmed. A year she’d looked, and then all of a sudden he was right here. The answers were still missing from the equation, but Shiro was alive. For now, that was enough. Bondi reached for her hand again. “You alright?” He’d paused the video feed. She nodded and pointed at the screen. “What happens next? Where’d they take him?” Bondi sped up the footage again.

“Looks like they put him under again. Then—“

“Stop.” On the screen, in the space of a few seconds, a group of people had entered. The remaining scientists were also unconscious on the floor. “They use the same negotiation tactics as you,” Bondi remarked. “It looks like they’ve freed Shiro though.”

“Yeah,” Rai agreed absently, her eyes fixed on the laptop. 

 

The four new people all looked young, her age or younger, and one of the ones holding up Shiro was eerily familiar. “Wait, is that Keith?” She asked.

“Who?”

Rai turned to Bondi. “He was friends with my brother. Got kicked out right about when I dropped out, I think.” Bondi lifted an eyebrow and peered at the screen.

“You can’t even see his face here.”

“He has a mullet, man. How many people do you know with a mullet nowadays? But that’s not the point. They got Shiro out, so he’s safe somewhere!”

“Wherever this guy Keith is, I assume.” Bondi pulled the laptop at the screen closer, his dark brows furrowing. “Who are the others?”

Rai hummed. “Don’t know. Why?”

“I think I recognise them. Some kids from another class went missing last week. Everyone just assumed they were on some kind of bender, but I guess not.”

“Keith, mixing with other kids from the Garrison?” Rai snorted. She’d like to see that. Despite never talking to him much, the brief conversations she’d had with him had given her a good overview of his personality. Keith didn’t play well with others.

 

“Guys?” Millie called over the headsets, using the emergency link that overrode the disconnection. “Can you hear me?”

“What’s wrong?” Bondi asked. Rai switched her headset back onto normal communications.

“Movement to your North-East. Too far away to tell, but it could be Garrison. I can barely see them through all the dust they’re kicking up, so you’d better hurry it up.” _Crap_. Rai had been hoping that they’d all but abandoned the area, but it seemed not.

“I think we’re done here.” Bondi looked to Rai for approval, and she nodded. “I’ll copy the footage to a USB and then we can leave.”

“Don’t bother,” Rai said. “We’ve got what we need.” Finally, _finally_ , she knew her brother was alive. Shiro was alive, and he was with his friends. Whoever those friends were. Rai quickly studied their faces, memorising them as best she could in the seconds she had left. One was tiny and scrawny, another tall and bulky (with muscle or fat she couldn’t tell). The one helping Keith carry out Shiro was somewhere in-between, tall and lean. Rai didn’t know if she’d recognise them walking down the street, but she had a general idea at least.

“ _Guys_.”

“Yeah we’re leaving Millie,” Rai said. She stood, pulling Bondi with her, causing him to drop the laptop to the ground.

“You probably cracked the screen,” he told her.

“Don’t care.”

“Sacrilege.”

 

Rai paused to untie the guard while Bondi ran ahead. He wasn’t much older than she was and looked confused. Despite the Garrison being a space agency, no one was ever really prepared for something to actually happen. “Who are you?” He asked as she pulled the tape off his mouth.

“Someone who’s really sorry for whacking you over the head,” she winced. “If you sustain any permanent brain damage, doubly sorry. I know for a fact that the Garrison is particularly stingy when it comes to paying medical bills.”

The guard let out a breathy laugh, leaning his head back against the chair. “Thanks.” She grinned at him and left him alone in the room.

 

Bondi was waiting outside for her, pulling his hood over his blonde hair. “Would you mind hurrying up?”

“Sorry.” She waved a dismissive hand, lifting up the binoculars in the direction Millie had pointed out to them. Sure enough, there was a massive dust cloud approaching them, and she couldn’t see what was in front of it. “Time to go.”

“You think?” Her and Bondi started running in the direction of the ridge, where Millie was waiting for them. If they could just get to the outcropping of rocks, then they could hide there and slowly make their way forward. Then she could think of the next step, how to look for her brother. He was safe, he had to be.

 

* * *

 

 

Her and Bondi were nearly out the rocks, panting hard from the run and panic, when Millie’s voice interrupted them. “Guys…”

Rai stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“These ships are moving faster than I thought, and they’re not slowing down?”

“What do you mean?” Bondi asked. Rai lifted the binoculars to see for herself. The cloud of dust was close enough now that she could see the ships leading it. They were low and dark, moving faster than any Garrison ship could. Than any _human_ ship could. They looked, Rai realised, like the escape pod her and Bondi had just been examining, a pod the ships flew past as she watched.

“ _I mean_ , they’re coming for you, not the ship,” Millie told them.

 

Bondi cursed under his breath, and Rai reached for one of her pistols, discarding the binoculars. “I want you to know,” Bondi told her as the ships surrounded them at a blinding speed. “That I blame you for this entirely.”

“Fair enough.” She lifted her gun and aimed at the nearest shot. “Millie, get out.”

“No, you brought me along for a reason.”

“There’s too many ships. If we’re going to get abducted by aliens, we need someone to come find us.”

“Aliens,” Bondi muttered. “This is not how I thought tonight would end.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I make no apologies for the amount of OCness in this chapter. I figured season 1 started with a flash back, why not season two? But I'm really excited for Rai to come into play in this. Plus what I have in store for the Paladins is exciting (read: angst).
> 
> If you want links to the pinterest boards I made for the three characters in this chapter I'll put them here (may include spoilers if you look hard)  
> Rai: https://au.pinterest.com/lemonadc/rai-oc/  
> Bondi: https://au.pinterest.com/lemonadc/bondi-oc/  
> Millie: https://au.pinterest.com/lemonadc/millie-oc/
> 
> they are the first but not last ocs to feature in this fic. I promise that the main voltron crew is still the main focus, but I've tried to write this in a season form and there's always new characters. So. deal.
> 
> ((also I'm writing this for nanowrimo + trying to get it done before season 2 starts so expect regular updates))


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk and Lance are #bros

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excuse the severe lack of editing I swear I'm not usually this lazy

“Coran, what’s happening?” All Keith could hear was Shiro’s voice, firm and desperate. The wormhole around him looked _wrong, wrong, wrong_.

“The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised. It’s breaking down!” Coran’s words didn’t make sense. Keith gripped Red’s controls and tried to breathe. Everything was happening too fast. It felt like the wormhole was collapsing in around him, which is could well be.

“What does that mean?” Lance's voice asked over the headset. Keith was glad someone did.

“It means we have no control over where we’re going.” 

 

That’s when the screams started. One by one, all five lions of Voltron fell out of the wormhole, and into oblivion. Keith lost feeling in his fingers from gripping Red’s controls. He was vaguely aware of his headset going silent but didn’t want to think too much on that. _They can’t be dead_. Voltron was their destiny, right? They’d barely started saving the universe, it was too soon to stop here. When Red lurched, Keith shoved all thoughts out of his head and focused his attention on piloting his Lion. Normally, piloting Red was easy and almost automatic. He barely had to think about it at all. Maybe it was a paladin thing or just the amount of time he spent in Red. Either way, he never had to spend too much energy focusing on piloting. Now, though, something was wrong. Red wasn’t responding to him as well, and he had to control every movement of the lion.

 

Patchy noise came through his headset, a murmur of a voice on the other end. As Keith listened, it slowly became audible. “-on? Shit, is anyone there?”

“Lance?” Because it was Lance’s voice, panicked and loud. The blue paladin continued yelling.

“This is really, _really_ bad. Please, someone respond!”

“ _Lance_ , can you hear me?” Keith yelled, but the blue paladin continued to yell wordlessly before cutting off. Cold fear raced through Keith’s bones but he could do nothing but clutch at the controls as his lion fell through space, blind to what was outside. Suddenly his view erupted into flames, and Keith realised why. He was entering the atmosphere of a planet.

 

“Can anyone hear me?” He called over the headsets.

“Keith?”  
“ _Shiro_?” Keith felt an enormous amount of relief, even as he caught sight of the planet he was about to crash land into. “Are you alright?”

“My lions going down.”

“Mine too. Shiro-“ His communications cut out and Keith cursed. This _really_ wasn’t his day. The surface of the planet approached with blinding speed, and Keith yanked at the controls.

 

* * *

 

Lance ducked Blue under a blast sent from a Galra ship. “Hunk? How you doing?”

“Just…fine!” Each word was punctuated from a blast sent from the yellow lion. Lance grinned for a moment, launching back into action by flying at one of the Galra ships attacking him. He and Hunk had come out of the wormhole together, only to be immediately attacked by a Galra patrol. Given the amount of fighting he’d had to do today, Lance figured he was due for a meal break. “Lance, watch your back,” Hunk called. Blue dodged to the side, narrowly missing another blast. “Thanks girl,” Lance whispered, and Blue hummed in response.

 

Three ships were attacking Hunk and Lance. Only patrol ships, and on any other day they could take them with their eyes closed. Today, however, they’d just been through one of the toughest battles of their lives and Lance was mentally and physically exhausted. To his left, the yellow lion hovered facing the three Galra ships with Lance and Blue. Despite not being able to see Hunk in the cockpit of the lion, Lance felt better knowing his best friend was beside him. “Lance…”

“Yeah, buddy?”

“I don’t like this.”

Lance reached for Blue’s controls, staring forward. “Me neither. Let’s kick their asses back to wherever the hell the Galra come from.” Almost without any urging, Blue surged forward ready to fight. Lance went for the closest ship, dragging Blue’s tail along the hull. It crippled the ship, and Lance let out a whoop of triumph. Suddenly, something collided into him and he was ripped out his chair and into the window. Something inside him snapped, and he went dizzy from pain.

 

“Lance? You alright?” He was dimly aware of Hunk colliding with the larger ship that hit Lance, knocking it away temporarily. “ _Lance_!”

“Give me a minute bud.” Lance pushed himself up, yelping when his weight went onto his left arm. Something in his elbow was definitely fucked up. Gingerly, he limped over to his seat and strapped himself back in. Apart from his collision with the dashboard, Blue seemed to have faired alright in the crash. “Yeah I’m all good. How many left, Hunk?”

“The one you took down went down to the planet. The other two are still kicking.” In the state they were in, that idea was almost impossible to comprehend, but Lance knew they didn’t have a choice. They had to find their friends and help save the world. You couldn’t argue with destiny.

 

“Time to get to work. Hunk, you bash up the one on the left as best you can. I’ll handle the other one. Whoever finishes first helps the other?” He suggested.

“I don’t like this plan. Your plans never work,” Hunk argued.

“Well it’s hardly a plan, so maybe this time it will work,” Lance joked, and pushed Blue forward again. The ship he was aiming for was ready for him, firing blasts immediately. Blue flew past them nimbly, and Lance spared a moment to grin in triumph. Blue may not be as agile as the Red lion, but she did a damned good job anyways.

 

As he tangled with the ship, he could hear Hunk over his headset, yelling profanities and generally cursing the entire universe. For a nice guy, the sentiment was quite harsh. Lance reasoned that they were under a stressful situation, and he could cut Hunk some slack. Refocusing his attention, Lance focused on the ship currently firing its cannons at him. It was larger than Blue and heavily armed. But not, he realised, a battle-ready ship. It looked more like some of the patrol ships he’d come across of outlying planets and Balmeras than anything else. He looked past the ship to the planet they were flying above. A small planet seemingly made entirely made of water. What Lance could see of it at least. Somehow, the Galra ships seemed to have come from that planet, which meant there was an outpost there.

 

Which meant he and Hunk were colossally fucked.

 

“Ah! Okay, okay! I’m going down. I repeat I am _going down_ ,” Hunk yelled over the headset. Lance whirled his lion around, only to see his friend falling through space towards the planet. “Hunk!” Lance tried to dive after him but was stopped by both of the ships. The one Hunk had been fighting was heavily damaged, but Lance’s was fine. Searching desperately for an idea in his mind, Lance was suddenly fed a thought by his Lion. “Perfect, Blue,” He whispered.

 

He opened Blue’s jaw and let out a torrent of ice, encasing the ship Hunk had been up against in ice perfectly. “Now onto this bastard,” Lance muttered, facing the last remaining ship. Somehow he didn’t think his ice trick would work a second time. Going for a surprise attack, Lance launched at the ship, ready to use brute force. The ship was already firing its canon, and Lance flew straight into the blast.

 

Blue shuddered, and started falling towards the surface of the planet. Using the last bit of engine power left, Lance sped Blue up to Hunk. “You okay?” He yelled over all the noise.

“I think so,” Hunk called back. “My lion won’t respond to me though!”

“Blue’s on her last legs. I think we’re going to have to crash land.

“ _What_?” Hunk sounded all too panicked. “Lance, I’m not prepared for this! I can only pilot the lion because the lions basically tell us what to do. I don’t know how to do a crash landing!”

Lance gripped Blue’s controls, trying to mediate his breathing. “Hunk, you’ve improved as a pilot now. You can work it out. Just pull your lion level as best you can when we get close, okay?”

“No! Not okay!”

“Great. Get ready.” 

 

Lance tipped Blue further forward into a nose dive, racing towards the planet. The sky around them was dimly lit and grey. “Lance, do we pull up before or after we hit the water?” Hunk asked. Lance paused to think. It was a good question, and he wasn’t sure of the answer. “ _Lance_.”  
“I don’t know.”

“I think we should pull up after. We don’t want to risk the impact damaging our lions,” the mechanic suggested, strangely logical amongst all his previous panic. _Damage the lions more than they already are_ Lance couldn’t help but think. Blue felt almost dead in his hands, her energy all twisted up. Not only that but since falling through the wormhole, the only person Lance had heard from had been Hunk. His friends could be dead for all Lance knew, their lions similarly damaged. “Alright. Diving it is,” he murmured, leaning forward until Blue was impossibly straight. His arm ached constantly, and Lance wasn’t looking forward to examining that later. He almost missed the cryo pods, despite a few uncomfortable experiences in them. _Almost_.

 

Another few seconds and the surface of the water was fast approaching. Lance’s helmet did a quick scan of the terrain underneath, confirming what Lance had known (or hoped). The water was deep here, so they wouldn’t be smashing themselves on rocks anytime soon. “Lance, I’d just like to say you’re my best friend,” Hunk started.

“Aw, bud-“

“-but I really hate you for this.” Before Lance could get another word in, the lions hit the water. 

 

* * *

 

Lance was meant to be the Guardian Spirit of Water or some Altean mumbo jumbo like that, but he felt pretty out of his element right at that moment as he tumbled through the water of a foreign planet. The force of the movement tossed him from side to side in his seat, and he collided with his arm. He unwillingly let out a scream of pain, trying to grab at his arm out of instinct but unable to control the movement of his body. Blue’s fall slowed eventually, and she stopped spinning. When the white cleared from behind his eyes, Lance could see outside. In the seconds he’d been spaced out, he and Blue had fallen a considerable distance through the water. “Guess the lions don’t float, huh.”

 

“Lance? You there?” Hunk’s voice came. Lance unbuckled from his seat, standing to lean closer to the window. “Yeah bud. Where are you?”

“Above Blue. My systems are dead.”

Lance frowned. Considering their current situation, that wasn’t a good sign. “Give me a sec—I’ll check Blue.” He pushed a few buttons, operating on memory instead of instinct now, and came up empty. “She’s not responding. Shit.”

Hunk didn’t sound too happy either. “How are we meant to stop ourselves from sinking to the bottom of the ocean. If it has a bottom, that is.”

“You think the entire planet is just one huge Hydrosphere?”

“It’s a possibility.”

Rolling his eyes, Lance reached up for his helmet, pressing the button to manually activate the terrain scan. The helmet was separate from Blue, so luckily that still worked. For how long, Lance wasn’t sure. “Good news. There are rocks coming up on our left.”

“That’s good news.”

“Didn’t someone mention once that we have a bunch of emergency equipment, like a grappling hook? That works without power? We can secure ourselves to the rocks with those.”

There was silence for a minute. “Good plan,” Hunk said.

Lance rolled his eyes again. Why did Hunk have to sound surprised?

 

* * *

 

“Line up the shot,” Lance whispered in Hunk’s ear.  
“What do you think I’m doing?” Hunk groaned, almost tempted to turn off his headset. Blue was already secured to the rocks fast approaching below him, the cable from the grappling hook wrapped around the side with her secured on her right flank. Hunk pulled the trigger on the launcher for his own grappling hook, watching it wrap around above Blue. The water slowed the movement somewhat, but the tech was designed to work in space. It could handle a bit of water, Hunk decided. The tighter the hook wrapped around, the closer Hunk was pulled toward the rock, and towards Blue.

“Watch the paint job,” Lance told him when he edged a little too close to Blue. Hunk rolled his eyes. They were in the middle of a crisis, and Lance was worried about his _paint job_.

“Your priorities are messed up man,” he told Lance. He could hear the pilot laugh nervously over the headset.

“Blue would kill me if I messed it up. So I think my priorities are actually pretty well sorted.”

 

His lion collided gently with the rocks, and Hunk stopped the grappling hook from tightening anymore. “I’ll meet you outside the lions, alright?” Lance asked over the headset.

“Sure,” Hunk replied, “outside. In the water.” They were lucky the suits, designed for space, had airtight capabilities and their own supply of oxygen. He knew it lasted awhile, the Paladins all being briefed on it by Allura and Coran, but how long was still up in the air. Hunk was good at maths but Pidge remained the only one out of their group who could do conversions between Altean and Earth time easily. He and Lance also had the oxygen supply in their lions and their spare suits, but their oxygen supply would eventually run out. The food and water too, but water wouldn’t be an issue (the Alteans had the technology to make fresh water out of just about anything containing H20) and Hunk was sure they could find some food somewhere. The planet was one massive big ocean after all.

 

* * *

 

“Water’s about 57 degrees,” Lance read aloud. Hunk swam around the nose of his lion, inspecting the damage done to it. Given the battle they’d just gone through, Yellow had come off pretty lightly. For some reason, though, his lion still wouldn’t turn on. “Cold,” he murmured.

Lance swam ahead of him, torch swinging through the water. Hunk noticed a hesitation in Lance’s movements, the blue Paladins holding his left arm tenderly. It was obviously injured, and Hunk thought he could see a makeshift bandage wrapped around it. He wanted to bring it up with Lance, but the pilot was notoriously tight-lipped when it came to injuries.

 

Hunk watched as Lance pulled himself up onto Blue’s nose, staring up at the massive lion. “I don’t get it. The lions barely have a scratch on them.

Hunk shrugged his shoulders. “They’re tough?”

Lance didn’t look convinced. “Then why have they shut down? Was there anything wrong on the inside?” Despite the Altean’s technology being far more advanced than Earth’s, it hadn’t taken Hunk long to figure out the basics. He couldn’t do a whole lot in the way of repairs just yet, but Coran had been teaching him how to diagnose a problem with the lions. He shook his head. “Internally, their mechanics are fine. It must have something to do with that witchy woo-woo that was going on.”

Lance snorted, drifting back over in his direction. “ _Witchy woo-woo_? You mean the druid magic, right?”

“Right,” Hunk agreed. “Well, they messed with Allura’s portal right? Maybe it did something to the lions too. They’re all connected to the Princess after all.”

“Don’t make out like it’s Allura’s fault.” Lance shuddered. “Those druids are creepy. Why can’t all the Galra just be normal?”

“Because all humans are identical?”

Lance scowled but acknowledged the point.

 

A surge of water brushed past Hunk, and he grabbed at Yellow and Lance. Around them it was dark, whether that was because it was night or they were just too deep under water for light to reach them Hunk couldn’t tell. Either way, the whole feel of it was creepy. The rocks they were tethered to were more like pillars, reaching up from a surface they couldn’t see. So far, there was no marine life to be found, and Hunk didn’t like to think about why that might be. “I think we should get out of here,” he suggested.

Lance gripped Hunk’s arm tighter, still favouring his left arm. “And leave the lions? Are you crazy?”

“We need to look for food, Lance. We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck here. _And_ , our oxygen supply isn’t endless. While we still have oxygen, we should stock up on food. When we go up to the surface, we won’t be able to come back down.”

“Alright, I see your point. I don’t think we should split up, though. That never ends up well.”

Hunk eyed Lance’s arm. “No, we’ll stay together. Are you sure you bandaged that right?”

“Huh?” His friend’s gaze went down to his arm, then back up. “Ah yeah. It’s fine.” It didn’t _look_ fine, but there was a defensive tone in Lance’s voice that Hunk didn’t feel like pushing. He’d leave that up to Keith. You know, if they ever saw Keith again.

 

 

* * *

The two of them collect emergency supplies: medical kits, torches, and rations (Hunk’s idea). Hunk rummages around in his lion, searching for a device that he and Pidge had come up with in their ever-decreasing free time. It was a small cylinder, about the size of his hands (though Hunk’s hands were quite large). There was a slit around the top, where the signal was meant to be released and then ideally scan a holographic map. Hunk was glad he and Pidge had thought to make it waterproof as well.

 

When he brought it out, Lance had taken one look at it and lifted an eyebrow. “What the hell is that?” Hunk was impressed he’d still managed to see the gesture with Lance’s helmet in the way.

“Well, it doesn’t exactly have a name, but Pidge and I designed it to scan an area and make a map of it. It’s a work in progress, so we’re not exactly sure what distance it’ll scan to yet, or how accurate the map will be, _or_ if it’ll even work.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “We never got around to testing it.”

Lance rubbed his hands together with a childlike glee. “No time like the present. How does it work? Did you guys come up with some complex code to turn it on or-“

Hunk pressed a button, and the machine started to hum, letting out a green pulse that ran through them. Lance stopped ramblings immediately, giving him a foul look. “You just have a _button_.”

Hunk shrugged. “Simplicity, man.”

 

After a few minutes of nothing happening Hunk was beginning to fear that it hadn’t worked, but then there was a loud beep and the device lit up again, this time a map spreading out from its scanner. Hunk swam them over to the top of the rock, balancing the cylinder so the map spread out above it. In the centre was him and Lance, two brighter lights amongst several larger shapes, the bulkiest of which being the Lions. “Oh, sick. The map’s 3D,” Lance commented, leaning down closer. Hunk startled when he realised Lance was right.

“That’s new.”

Lance frowned up at him. “This is _your_ invention. Surely not knowing what it does it like not knowing the name of your kid or something.”

“I worked with Pidge, man. She does what she wants.”

 

It was lucky she did because a 2D map wouldn’t have shown them much. On their level, there were only a few vague shapes that looked like more pillars, and one or two dim life forms (other than themselves). It was further down that stuff became interesting. The map reached just below the ground, on top of which were several large shapes. What they were, Hunk couldn’t tell. Possibly just more rocks, but clustered together. More promising was a large number of life forms gathered in the area. “Look,” Hunk pointed them out to Lance. “Food, possibly.”

“Great, let’s go.” Given his previous hesitation about leaving, Lance looked anxious to start swimming. Injury and all. Hunk grabbed him, staring at the map. “Hang on, I’m trying to figure out how long it’ll take.” He tried to remember the scale he and Pidge had set for the map and guessed at how fast he and Lance would swim, and came to a decision. “Maybe a quarter of an hour each way?”

“Sounds perfect.” Lance pushed up and away from the rock, dragging Hunk with him. “Time for a swim.”

 

* * *

Pidge _really_ didn’t like solid ground. Not when it decided to smash into her lion.

 

To be accurate, her lion had smashed into the solid ground after coming out of the wormhole a little too close for comfort, but Pidge could resent the ground either way. She’d crash landed onto a mountain on a planet she didn’t recognise, surrounded by nothing but towering rocks. Pidge was used to feeling short, but the towering height of the mountain made her feel ridiculous.

 

Focusing her attention on her lion, tool kit in hand, Pidge frowned. Her lion was tangled up in vines, resting with its head in its paws. Out of context, she would have thought Green was just giving her the silent treatment, but she knew that wasn’t the case. Going through the unstable wormhole had messed with its internal working. Besides, the Red lion (and its pilot) was the only one prone to those kinds of moods. Green had sustained some damage underneath, scraping against the mountains. Pidge wasn’t as close to her lion as she knew Lance, and even Shiro, was, but she wasn’t used to dead silence either. After overcoming her initial obsession with finding her family, Pidge had allowed herself to grow closer to Green. Soon she’d developed a sort of attachment to him (her? Pidge still wasn’t sure on that count). To be cut off from that entirely left her feeling raw. And there was the whole matter of not being able to get off the planet without a ship. “Crap,” Pidge muttered. It summed her situation up nicely.

 

Pidge was better with a keyboard than she was with a toolkit, but she still wedged her way underneath Green to see if she could fix the damage. With her lion collapsed on the ground, Pidge had enough room to lay on her back and lift her arms if she kept her elbows bent. Normally, she wouldn’t be able to reach Green’s belly if the lion was standing, so this situation was starkly different.

 

The damage done wasn’t too bad, but some of Green’s internal workings were showing. Given that the lions were supposed to be sentient beings (or something), Pidge was surprised by how many wires that involved. Surprised, but not disappointed. She could comprehend giant lions with complicated machinery better than she could a magic robot with no apparent mechanisms. A power source was still up in the air, but Pidge reasoned the Quintessence technology the Galra were developing was related somehow. Allura and Coran had been a little stingy on the details, which Pidge thought was a little poor considering her and her friends risked their lives constantly to help the remaining Alteans save the universe. What was a little information in all that? Adding the matter to the list of things that constantly annoyed her (see: no one helping her track down her family) Pidge got to work. A lot of the wires were simply scraped bare, and she could fix them with a little bit of space duct tape. The ones that had snapped were a little more complicated, as Pidge had to track down both halves of the wire and twist them back together. She was constantly waiting for a wire to zap her with electricity, but nothing happened. One of the benefits of Green being lights out, she supposed.

 

Once she was sure she’d fixed everything there was to fix (doing the best job she could with limited tools and sparse mechanical ability) Pidge stepped out from under Green and climbed inside. The entrance in the jaw was open, but it still meant quite a climb. Back in the cockpit, Pidge took a calming breath and leant over the controls. Without Green in her head, she had to try and remember what button in the lion did what. Altean symbols were still a mystery to her, so Pidge worked by a process of elimination. She couldn’t remember which button _exactly_ turned the power on, but she could remember which buttons didn’t. Eventually, she was left with two options. Shrugging her shoulders, Pidge hit the button more to her left.

 

Nothing happened.

 

She eyes the remaining button, staring it down. It was closer to her than any of the others, almost like it was taunting her with the fact that it had been there all along. All she had to do was press that, and she could start looking for her friends. It felt a little too much like déjà vu for her taste, and all Pidge could think about was the time she’d watched Shiro’s escape pod crash down to earth. She’d thought that would hold all the answers too. Well, she’d been partially right.

 

Fed up with her own constant mental commentary, Pidge reached out (short arms) and whacked down on the button. In the moment, she braced herself for the roar of Green turning back on, the screens around her lighting up, and the terrifying but exciting feeling on her lion moving. She got none of it. Instead, Green remained still and silent. Pidge envisioned a cat having food tossed at it, but still refusing to move from a comfy chair. “Bloody cat,” she cursed, kicking out at the control panel and instantly regretted it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey no oc's this chapter! Is that a good thing? Idk sometimes I feel like when I'm reading a fic like this I can get overwhelmed with oc's so. I will try.
> 
> In saying that, in my episode plan (I'm planning this in episode format) the next scene is from the point of view of an oc. So. whoops? (You'll like him).
> 
> Anyways, feel free to leave comments and kudos and such. It makes me feel a bit happier <3
> 
> and if you want to follow my tumblr, my url is @pcrcy so have a look guys.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Emma


	3. three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> will I ever stop with the ocs?  
> No. No I won't

Zarkon’s Central Command was in disarray. Guards stormed every inch on the system, trying to establish some kind of order. The extensive damage caused by the Voltron attack, damage which was being assessed by teams of engineers, had enabled some prisoners to escape. None of them made it far, only a few reaching escape pods and those few were quickly recaptured, but the remaining prisoners were restless. If ever there was a time to incite a rebellion amongst the prisoners, now would be the time to do it.

Unfortunately, Bayr, who was hiding in the ventilation system, had other priorities. He wanted to help the prisoners and had helped others of their kind in the past, but he restrained himself. Normally he would go all in, ignoring his better judgement to try and save them. His friend and ally Kera called it a hero complex. It was her voice in his head that stopped him. By trying to save the prisoners now, Bayr would be sentencing them to death. With the Central Command on lockdown as it was, there was no hope of even getting a single prisoner to the nearest system. Bayr wasn’t even sure he could get away, and he had a getaway pilot waiting for him.

Making a silent promise in his head, Bayr pulled his mask closer over his face and moved on. His dark armour plates limited hid agility, and he had to be careful about every movement. If he made a noise even slightly too loud, he could be dead. Below him he could hear the sounds of prisoners fading, the steady march of Galra drones taking their place. They weren’t, he realised, doing a patrol. They were heading for ships, getting ready to leave. This didn’t bode well, but for who Bayr wasn’t sure. He travelled the opposite way, heading for the ships. As a last minute thought, he stopped and pulled out the communicator concealed in his leg pocket.

“Kera?”  
There was a pause. “This doesn’t sound like an emergency.”  
“Troops are heading for their ships. Make sure you can’t be seen.”  
“I won’t be. Now shut up.” With a click, the line of communication cut off. Bayr rolled his eyes. Despite being one of the colder people he knew, she seemed to care an awful lot about his wellbeing. He heeded her words and kept quiet as he moved forward.

It didn’t take him long to reach an area he had worked out was where Zarkon could be found (by terrorising a guard) and slid out of the vents onto the ground. So far there hadn’t been any security there, but this was a high-security area and he couldn’t risk it anymore. If he’d had more time, Bayr may have tried concealing himself as a guard, but for now, stealth would have to do. Making sure his sword was within easy reach, Bayr crept forward through the corridors.

A drone guard was standing at the door ahead of him, an easy target but Bayr waited a moment around the corner. Sure enough, another pair of guards rounded the corner and marched towards him. He ducked into an alcove, waiting for them to pass. When they add, Bayr approached the remaining guard. When he was still a few feet away, the guard looked over and saw him standing there. Bayr drew his sword, the energy beams of his suit flashing as he launched forward and cut the drone in half easily. The moment he did so, Bayr set a mental clock in his head. He only had so much time before someone came along and noticed the disabled guard, and once that happened Bayr was in trouble.

He picked up the arm of the drone, holding up the hand. Now that the drone’s power was dead, it couldn’t open any doors, but his suit did more than just protect him. Bayr held his palm against the drone’s, and his suit flashed as it imitated the energy signature. When he scanned the glove of his suit against the door lock, it opened smoothly. He quickly ducked inside, gripping his sword tightly in case of more guards, or worse, but the hallway was empty.

It was easy going until he reached a network of doors that all seemed to lead to one room, guards posted at the main entrance. Bayr avoided them, going instead for one of the abandoned side entrances. It opened soundlessly, leading into a dark lit room. Hiding behind a nearby pillar, Bayr peeked around to see what was inside.

His heart stopped cold.

In all his years of fighting the Galra, Bayr had never laid eyes upon Zarkon. He knew only a few people who had, most of them liberated prisoners who had only caught glimpses. The Galra weren’t the most attractive species, but Zarkon was more hideous than most. Even from a slight distance, Bayr could see that Zarkon’s face was withered and gaunt. He sat on a throne, talking to a robed figure in front of him. As the leader of the Galra shifted in his seat, Bayr caught sight of his eyes. Rumours had reached him that Zarkon’s eyes glowed, not the usual yellow but purple. And they were brighter than Bayr had ever seen in any Galra.

“-and dispatch any force you can reach. Call in those in outlying galaxies if you must. Voltron is weak, and we need to find the lions now. We cannot allow them to regain their strength.” Zarkon’s voice echoed through the chamber, making Bayr shiver. The words more than the gravelly tone. The forces in outlying galaxies—those were the ones fighting the rebels. If they were being called to find Voltron, Bayr didn’t like the robot’s chances or that of its Paladins. Bayr had heard rumours of the return of Voltron, a story his mother had whispered to him when he was younger, but he’d never thought it could be real. Until they rescued an entire planet, and then Balmera, and countless more in a short amount of time. For the rebels, Bayr’s people, it was a sign of hope. They weren’t the only ones fighting a never-ending war anymore.

“Your will shall be carried out,” the robed figure rasped. Bayr hadn’t heard that voice before, but he’d heard descriptions of it from enough people to recognise who it belonged to. Haggar. Leader of the primary Druid faction, and a master of Quintessence manipulation. Bayr had heard so many horror stories about her that he considered her as much of a threat as Zarkon. The only difference between the two was one gave orders, and one received them. “Voltron must be found, and it may be time to rethink our method. The aim has always been to obtain the lions for ourselves, but now… The threat may be too great.”  
“I understand, Sire,” Haggar said. “There may be another use for the lions that will neutralise their threat.”

At that moment, an officer stormed into the room and Bayr had to hide further behind the pillar. “Sire, the ship has been infiltrated.”  
There was a pause. “What?” Zarkon’s voice had a deadly tone to it. Bayr had to steady his breathing.  
“Several drone guards have been found destroyed. They’re too far from the prison sector for any prisoner to have caused the damage. And sire—“  
“Yes?”  
“One was found outside of here.”  
Time to go. Bayr bolted for the door, the noise of his footfalls drawing attention. He could hear Zarkon start yelling for guards to chase him when the automated door slid closed behind him.

Abandoning stealth for speed, Bayr ran full pelt down the corridors. As he ran, he cursed the size of Zarkon’s ship. He’d tried to pay attention to where he was going on the way in, but the trip had been a lengthy one and he now had to try to remember it in reverse. He reached a fork in the corridors and deliberated on which way to turn. Ahead of him, in the right corridor, a patrol of guards approached. “Seize him!” He didn’t have enough time to run, so Bayr drew his sword again and swung at the nearest guard. The first went down in a flash, then the second, but the third guard caught Bayr’s side with his blaster. Fiery pain gripped at Bayr while he took the last drone down, gritting his teeth.

He only had to avoid a few (seventeen) more groups of guards before he was in an area he recognised vaguely. Quickly he realised that this was the area where he first climbed into a vent, and he pushes himself to run faster. He hoped Kera was ready to fly because they were going to have a bitch of a time getting out of the system. If he could only stop for a moment, he could contact her, but the pounding footsteps following Bayr told him that every tick counted.

Finally, finally, he came to the last place he’d seen Kera. It was a seemingly abandoned shuttle bay that the two of them had tracked down when they approached the system. When Bayr had left the bay, it had been empty: save for the ship he and Kera had come in. Now it really was empty. “Dammit,” he growled. This really wasn’t the time for hide and seek. He pulled out his communicator, stalking over to the place he’d seen the ship last. “Kera, where the hell are you?”  
“Here,” an annoyed voice called from behind him. Bayr turned, seeing nothing, then a ship materialised in front of him, with Kera inside. She reached out her purple hand, pulling him up into the ship. “You can make stuff invisible now?”  
She nodded. “Even to you.”  
“Should I be concerned?” Kera was a Druid, one that used to be trained under Haggar but she’d left a few years previously and joined the Rebels. If she had this power, it meant that the other Druids could as well.

“You call this stealth?” Kerr asked, avoiding the question. She lifted the ship off the ground, at the exact moment troops entered the bay. “You may as well have walked in here with a target on your face.”  
“I’m injured. At least try to be sympathetic,” Bayr groaned when Kera completed a too-tight turn, jolting his injury. She gave him a stony faced look. “As far as I’m concerned, this is all your own fault.”  
“It’s not like I asked for this.”  
“Yes you did.” She waved a hand to shut him up, focusing her eyes forward as they flew. Ships were swarming out of the Command System to chase them, and the shield was being lowered once again. Kera found a clear path straight through the ships like they were made of water, and approached the shield. “Don’t kill us,” Bayr told her.  
“You brought me along for a reason.” She stretched out a hand, her yellow eyes glowing a little brighter, and a cut appeared in the shield just big enough for them to fit through. A few more moments and they were free. Once out of the shield, Kera increased the speed of their ship and they were leaving the Galra behind.

 

* * *

 

“Coran! The engines are powering down again!” Allura struggled to keep the ship moving forward as her advisor leapt into action. “I’m on it, Princess.” There was a flash of red hair and Coran was diving to the control board, fingers flying away as he made rushed attempts at repairs. It wasn’t the first time this had happened since they fell through the wormhole. Every few earth hours, something went drastically wrong and the Castle lost power. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Beneath her fingers, Allura felt the castle’s energy right itself and spared a moment to look over her shoulder in Coran’s direction. His usually neat hair was ruffled, his face stained with grime (she’s not sure what from seeing how he keeps the castle meticulously clean) but he was smiling. “All fixed, Princess.”  
Allura let out a sigh of relief. “We’re in a crisis, Coran. I think you can drop the formalities.” At the word crisis, the cheery expression on his face drops. Allura looked ahead, out into space. She knew what he must be thinking, that they’d never find the Paladins, that she’d failed them when her wormhole was corrupted. When Coran placed a hand on her shoulder, she nearly jumped from the shock. “We’ll find them,” Coran said. “They’re tough, Allura.”  
“They’re still so new to this,” she sighed. “I remember my father’s Paladins. It took them years to master Voltron, to become a true team. They needed time.”  
“They had the option of it. I think you underestimate how much a person can grow when it’s needed,” Coran assured her. “You Paladins know the situation is dire, and they’re rising accordingly. You’ve seen how much they’ve done in such a short amount of time. They’ll be alright.”

Allura knew her advisor was right. Despite the constant arguments within the team, all the rivalries and disagreements, they had pulled together is a short span of time. Even Lance and Keith, the two who disagreed the most, had started to become friends, despite neither of them being willing to admit it. There was a reason they had worked well together on the Balmera, and they weren’t the first Red and Blue Paladins to go through this change. Allura knew those two would be fine, that they’d all be fine.

“Let’s go find them,” She told Coran. “Have you got the scanners up and running?”  
“They’re calibrating now.”  
“Good. I’ll need their help to track the lions down.” Allure’s energy was connected to the lions, and as such she could sense their whereabouts at any time, but at the great distances that space demanded she couldn’t determine an exact location without the assistance the Castle of Lions provided her with. Coran returned to his position, typing away at the controls. “Calibrating complete. Ready when you are, Princess.”

Allura lowered her hands to her controls, closing her eyes and stretching her mind. Ever since her father had linked her to the lions when she was younger, there had been a constant murmuring at the edge of her mind. The lion's thoughts, whirling through her head. It had been strange at first, but after time it grew familiar. The lions had changed in the ten thousand years since she’d heard them last, but they were familiar once again. Allura could feel the lions, as far from her as they may be, and the Castle picked up on the locations. Allura opened her eyes and the precise coordinates were placed on a map in front of her.

“Pidge is nearby,” Coran calls to her excitedly. “We wouldn’t even need a wormhole to reach her. The only problem is she’s alone. Hopefully she hasn’t run into trouble.”  
“If anyone can handle trouble, it’s Pidge.” Allura peered closer at the map. “Bring up the diagnostics of the planet.” There was a brief pause before Coran did so.  
“The oxygen levels are a little low, but still breathable. There’s water, edible plantation. All things considered, she got lucky.” The map had zoomed in onto Pidge’s location, and Allura backed it up so she could see the other Lions again. Shiro and Keith’s lions appeared to be in the same location, and Hunk and Lance were on a different planet in the same system as the pair. “At least the others are all together, even if they’re further away from us,” Allura reasoned. “Are their planets inhabited?”  
“Pidge’s is. Shiro and Keith only have primitive life forms to our knowledge, but Lance and Hunk may have to deal with more evolved marine life.” Coran sounded worried, but she forced herself not to worry. Hunk and Lance were just as capable as Pidge.

Allura plotted a course mentally. “We’ll go to Pidge first. She’s alone, so she’s more at risk than the others. Then Hunk and Lance, before—“  
“Not Shiro and Keith first?” Coran asked. Allura frowned.  
“I thought you said Hunk and Lance’s planet was the inhabited one. That means they’re more likely to be in danger.”  
“Keith’s lion was damaged when he fought Zarkon,” he reminded her. “And Shiro is still injured.” He was right, Allura had nearly forgotten about both those things despite helping Shiro get to his lion herself. His physical injuries weren’t the only thing bothering him, she knew. “Okay. Keith and Shiro, then Hunk and Lance. If we can keep the Castle running long enough, that is.”  
“I’ve diverted some of the power to our backup crystals,” Coran informed her. After their confrontation with Sendak, they’d decided that backup crystal generators were a necessity. “That should keep the load on each crystal to a minimum until we can stop and make proper repairs.” It was one of Coran’s better ideas and she knew it would work. It had to. Allura couldn’t stop the doubt in the back of her mind, however. What if they’d misjudged? What if one of the Paladins was in danger, and she’d arrive just a little too late?

 

* * *

 

Pidge wasn’t one to lose her temper, but she was close to screaming in rage. After hours and hours of tinkering with her lion, it was no closer to flying and she was no closer to understanding why. She’d given up on Green ever flying and was now examining the spare pieces of tech she had stored away in her lion. There wasn’t much, but it was possible she could fashion a radar to detect energy signals of the technological kind. Then, at least, she could explore the planet and still be able to find her way back to her lion. Pidge didn’t like leaving Green alone, but she didn’t like being ignorant to her surroundings either. And if Green wouldn’t respond to her, he sure as hell wouldn’t be responding to anyone else.

Once her mind was set to the task, it didn’t take Pidge long to fashion a radar together, complete with batteries. Unable to determine their battery life, Pidge was blind to how long they’d last, so had brought along every spare battery she could find stashed away in Green. A pack full of them was slung over her back, rattling with every step she made. The amount of noise made Pidge uncomfortable, but she’d done her best to pad the pack and limit the sound. Besides, it was a sacrifice she’d have to make. Pidge couldn’t risk losing Green. The radar she had built was a patchy silver and green device, nothing pretty but that wasn’t what mattered. What mattered was that when she switched it on, it immediately showed Green’s location in relation to her own.

Interestingly, it also gave her the location of tech that wasn’t her own. There was energy everywhere on the planet, and a large cluster of energy only a short distance away. Feeling to make sure her bayard was still stored in her suit, Pidge started climbing up the mountain. The clusters of energy were beyond it, so she’d have to reach the top first. Pidge reasoned that the climb was necessary. Not only was it the most direct way, but when she was up on the mountain she’d be able to get a good look at the terrain around her. While her brain agreed with the logic, her calf muscles didn’t. When Allura had convinced them all to be the Paladins of Voltron, she hadn’t mentioned how physically demanding it would be. Pidge was designed for computers and logic, not hiking for hours on end. A pilot was meant to fly, not walk.

Despite her grumblings, Pidge set herself a brutal pace for reaching the top of the mountain. Green had crash landed most of the way up, leaving her with only a short distance to go, but it was still hard work. It didn’t help that she was constantly surrounded by towering rocks, so couldn’t see where she was going or where she had been. Loose stones caused her to almost slip a few times, but Pidge maintained her balance. There was a water bottle in her pack, and Pidge had nearly drained it by the time the peak was in sight. The sun was hot, and the slope was steep. She quickly found herself in need of another drink but refrained. Pidge still had a long way to go.

It wasn’t until the ground levelled out, then started to decline that Pidge realised she’d actually reached the peak. She was still below the rocks, however, and glared at them angrily. “Screw it.” She drew her bayard, and looked around the rocks, looking for something she could hook it onto. There was one rock with a knob she could possibly wrap her bayard around, like a grappling hook, but Pidge’s aim would need to be good to hit it. Aiming carefully, Pidge gripped the handle of her bayard and flicked out. The blade extended away from her, leaving her with a thick cord and the handle, and raced towards the rock. Six months ago, Pidge wouldn’t have made the shot, but now her bayard looped itself around the rock perfectly. Pidge tightened the hold with a tug and pulled herself up on top.

What she saw took her breath away. Beyond the outcrop of rocks surrounded the mountain were lush green meadows, springs and rivers that were almost painfully blue, and there was a pleasant breeze. But what really caught Pidge’s eyes was the source of the scattered energy readings her radar had detected. Throughout the meadow were enormous glowing blue crystals. This wasn’t a planet, she realised, it was a Balmera. Of course, the crystals showed up on her radar. They were the source of power for alien tech, which was what her device was meant to be picking up. One thing that wasn’t explained by the presence of the crystals, however, was the huge energy readings that were coming from dead ahead of her. When Pidge lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, she got her answer.

Drilling into the surface was a team of Galra miners, with their huge machinery already chipping away at the surface. Pidge felt cold when she remembered what Shay’s Balmera had looked like until Allura had healed it using her Quintessence. Now the Galra wanted to do the same to this Balmera. The thought made Pidge furious. Did they not understand that the Balmera was a living creature? But then she thought of Shiro, of his prosthetic arm and the haunted look in his eyes. The Galra hadn’t cared that he was alive either.

Pidge unhooked her bayard, sliding down the rocks, setting off down the mountain. It was risky, getting close to so many Galra while she was on her own, but Pidge didn’t have another option. She wanted a closer look at their operation, to determine how established they were here and maybe steal some supplies. And she wanted to see if she could do anything to help, Pidge could admit to herself. If this Balmera was anything like the other she’d seen, then that meant there were Balmerans living here. After seeing how Shay’s people had been treated for generations, Pidge didn’t want to see something like that happening here.

 

* * *

 

By Pidge’s estimation, it takes her a few hours to get close to the Galra mine. She also had to be sure to keep out of sight of any Galra watching, keeping low in the long grass as she walked. Her height, combined with the length of the grass, made this a relatively simple task. She hid behind one of the crystals when she was closer to the mine, peering out from behind it to get a closer look. The Galra had a drill digging into the ground, chewing up the Earth, but a more concerning sight drew her attention. Tall creatures, covered in a light green fur, were being rounded up and chained together. Many of them struggled, lashing out at the Galra with claws, but were lashed for their troubles. Pidge watched in horror, knowing what came next for the creatures. They looked different from the Balmerans Pidge had met before, but the way these creatures camouflaged with the grass made it clear they were native here. That meant they would be forced to work for the Galra to slowly destroy the Balmera, taking every crystal they could.

Pidge swallowed thickly, looking closer at the machines. Every inch was still shiny, and she realised what this meant. The Galra had only just arrived recently, not even removing all the crystals from the surface yet. Pidge wondered if their arrival predated Voltron liberating the other Balmera. She caught sight of the confused and angry faces on the newly captured Balmerans and realised it didn’t. So Voltron was partially responsible for the fate of these people, if only indirectly. Which meant Pidge had to help them.

There was a rustling behind her, and Pidge turned her head back slightly and saw nothing but grass. Frowning, with a feeling like she was being watched, Pidge turned back to the mine. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw some slight movement, but it was gone before she could turn and get a closer look. Huffing in frustration, Pidge looked away again. Remembering how the Balmerans looked like they could blend into the grass, Pidge didn’t turn around the next time she saw movement. There was a pause, then she could feel more than hear something coming up behind her. Slowly and carefully, Pidge lifted her hands until they were level with her head. “I’m harmless,” she called gently, hoping the translator chip Coran had given all the Paladins was doing its job.  
There was a grunt. “Who are you?”  
She turned around with a wide grin, not faltering when she saw two of the Balmerans staring at her with distrustful expressions on their faces (she assumed, anyway. It was hard to distinguish expression with alien species sometimes). “I’m Pidge,” she greeted cheerfully. “Paladin of Voltron.”  
“Great. The hero type,” The same one from before grumbled. The other elbowed him sharply.  
“Quiet, Havvor. The warrior child could help.” Pidge nearly snorted at the description. Warrior child. Lance would have a field day with that one.

Havvor gave her a suspicious look, then turned to walk away. “Follow us.”  
The other Balmeran gestured for Pidge to walk ahead, so she did so, careful to keep her fingers away from the side of her suit. She didn’t want to accidentally deploy her bayard and freak out the Balmerans. “Where are we going?” She asked.  
Havvor groaned. “Why must you ask questions?”  
“Be reasonable. I don’t know you and have no reason to trust you other than your people clearly don’t like the Galra,” Pidge reminded the Balmeran.  
“The child has a point.”  
“Fine,” Havvor relented. “We are taking you to where the rest of our people wait. It isn’t safe for anyone near the mines, Paladin or not.”  
“But I want to help,” Pidge argued. She crossed her arms and stopped walking, feeling childish but not willing to go any further. The balmeran behind her gave her a gentle nudge. “You can help. But not yet.” Curiosity spiked, Pidge relented and followed Havvor.

 

* * *

 

The Balmerans lived out in the middle of the huge expanse of grass. When they were walking, Pidge was concerned that they wouldn’t be concealed from any Galra ships flying overhead, but the Balmerans worked fast. They’d abandoned their village in the area and had dug a hideout, the entrance concealed by a door of woven grass. Pidge could see it from the ground but knew she’d miss it if she was flying overhead.

Two guards at the door, holding wooden spears like the rest of the Balmerans gave her distrustful looks but let her pass along with Havvor and Mala (that was the name of the other Balmeran). When they’d entered the hideout, Pidge had been taken aback at what she saw. Already, a huge space had been made for the remaining Balmerans of the area to hide in, so large that she had to wonder if it had already existed before the Galra came. Crystals embedded in the ground, along with wooden beams, kept the structure from collapsing on top of them. Pidge thought of Shay’s people and realised that maybe the two species of Balmerans weren’t so different despite their lack of outward similarities.

The tall green creatures filled the cavern as far as she could see. In the centre, near the larger crystal, there appeared to be some kind of meeting going on. That was the direction Havvor and Mala pushed her in. Pidge followed them diligently, pushing her glasses up her nose as she took everything in. Initially, she had assumed that these Balmerans were a more primitive species, but she could see tech in the hands of some of the children. Or, she assumed they were children judging by the fact that they were only a little taller than her, instead of being twice her height.

“Mala, what is this?” One of the Balmerans in the meeting asked, leaning forward on the wooden table. Pidge looked curiously over at her escorts (captors?) as Mala stepped forward to answer and Havvor hung back dutifully. Obviously, Mala held the most authority over the two. Havvor’s constant ordering about had given Pidge the opposite impression. “This warrior child claims to be a Paladin of Voltron,” Mala informed the Balmerans.  
“My name’s Pidge,” she added helpfully.  
The Balmeran leader (at least, Pidge assumed that one was the leader) scratched its chin. “Are you a girl or a boy? I cannot tell.”  
Ridge’s grin widened. “Whichever one you like better. Girl works.”  
The Balmeran scratched it’s chin again, this time there was approval there. “I like you, and you wear the uniform of Voltron. But where is the Green Lion?”

“How do you know about Voltron?” Pidge questioned. “It’s been gone for ten thousand years. No one seems to have really heard of it in that time.”  
“We believed it was only a myth,” Havvor tells her. “But then our friends, the Rebels, came to us with the news that Voltron had returned, and fought against the Galra. We trust their word.” The word Rebels surprised her. The only Pidge had heard of rebelling against the Galra empire was Voltron, the Balmerans that Hunk and Allura won over and the occasion group such as Rolo’s. “Who are they? Can they help free your people?”  
The leader shook its head. “I think not. We sent word to our friend, but he has not replied. It’s possible there are other conflicts going on, so we are on our own.”  
“Not anymore,” she said fiercely. “I’ll help you. What do you need me to do?”

 

* * *

 

“Coran, we’re entering the atmosphere,” Allura called out, in the hopes of waking her advisor up from his nap. They’d had a stressful few weeks (more like a stressful few millennia) but the Castle couldn’t land on the planet, which meant one of them had to go down to the surface. Coran was the better option for that, Allura knew, despite her wanting to be more involved in the action desperately. The fact remained that Allura was connected to the castle better, giving her better control and being the most qualified to provide air support.

Allura glanced back and saw Coran was still dozing in his chair. She rolled her eyes. “Coran.”  
“I’m awake,” he jumped up, typing away at his controls instinctively. “Entering the atmosphere, Princess.”  
Allura wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, so she just ignored it. “My sensors are showing sign of development North of Pidge’s position,” she said instead. “But the planet’s inhabitants shouldn’t be developed enough to have these capabilities yet.”  
Coran seemed to slump in his chair. “They aren’t, but the Galra are. And this isn’t a planet, it’s another Balmera.”  
“What?” She turned back to the main screen, willing it to zoom in on the surface of the planet. When the image focused, she could see the crystals. “Oh no.” She sighed, running a hand through her frazzled hair. Why was this happening again? “Another Balmera.”  
“The Galra fleet is huge,” Coran reasoned. “They need all the power they can get.”  
Something snapped inside her. “That doesn’t mean they have the right to destroy life wherever they go,” she growled. Anger flooded her entire body. “We have to help!”

Coran came up beside her, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Princess, I want to help too. But this Balmera mine is a new one, meaning it’s more heavily guarded while they get the Balmerans under control. It took us and Voltron to defeat them last time. Right now, we have to find the Paladins. Then we can save the people here.”  
He was right of course, but that didn’t make it any easier for Allura to hear. Finally, she relented. “Alright. You go down in a pod to find Pidge. I’ll cover you from up here.” They were lowering behind a mountain, and so hadn’t been spotted by any Galra yet (that they knew of). It wouldn’t take long for someone to notice them, though. As they spoke, the castle had brought up a live image of the Green lion. Allura felt relieved at the sight of it still in one piece, even if it didn’t seem to be active. Pidge was nowhere to be seen, but that meant nothing. It was likely she was still inside the Lion. “I’ll be back shortly,” Coran said, leaving for a pod.

As he made his way to the hangar, Allura completed more scans of the Balmera. Coran was right about the mine being new, she realised. The damage done to the Balmera so far was minor and local. The troops hadn’t even spread to the other side of the Balmera, from what she could tell. When Coran dispatched in his pod, Allura raised the ship a little higher so the ship could get a visual on the mining operation. The camera’s zoomed in, working hard to focus. In the time it took for them to do their work, Coran was already approaching the Green lion. “Pidge? Hello, it’s me! Coran!” There was a pause and no answer. Allura wasn’t paying attention, her focus on the screen as dread filled her. “Allura, I don’t think Pidge is here.”  
“She’s not,” Allura replied over the headset. “She’s at the mine. She and the Balmerans are attacking it.”

 

* * *

 

 

Coran returned to the ship within a few minutes. By the time he ran into the control centre, Allura was already prepping the engines and defences of the castle. “What’s going on?” She heard him ask. Allura pointed at the screen. Coran let out a gasp when he caught sight of what she’d been staring at the last few minutes. The native Balmerans, a tall and furry species, were lined up and chained together. Most of them were struggling against the bonds, a far cry from the deep set oppression Allura had seen in Shay’s people. Only, not all of the Balmerans were chained up. A large number of them were free, fighting with spears and swords against the Galra’s guns. It could have all been a lost cause, if not for Pidge. The young Paladin was taking Galra down left and right, passing their weapons to the Balmerans closest to her. Pidge herself used only her bayard, the arrow shape blade causing devastating damage. Allura was almost surprised by Pidge’s skill but had to remind herself that she’d only ever seen Pidge fight like this around her team: all of whom had far more experience in combat than she did. Even Hunk compensated for his lack of training with his size, but Pidge’s training had clearly been paying off.

Allura focused her attention on the main battle. Despite Pidge’s help with getting weapons to the fighters, the Balmerans were losing. Most of the Galra weren’t shooting to kill yet, obviously not wanting to destroy their potential workforce, but Allura knew it wouldn’t be too long before the Galra switched tactics. They were losing too many soldiers not to. And Pidge was vulnerable without her lion. Despite her training, the girl was a pilot at heart. “Time to attack,” Allura told Coran.  
He almost grinned. “Firing blasters.” The ship began a barrage of attack directed by Coran. Allura, her hands on the sensors, began mentally directing her own fire at the attack. The Castle’s weaponry was precise enough that she could single out individual opponents. Pidge, who was still being tracked by the castle, looked up and saw them. Allura could see her smile briefly, and fiddle with her helmet. “Allura? Coran?”  
“We’re here, Pidge,” Allura reassured her.  
“Seems you need a little bit of help,” Coran remarked, yelling in triumph when he takes out one of the cranes. “No kidding,” Pidge replied. “Try to get the main structure. It’s all the Galra have built so far, and if we take it out I figure they’ll back off.”

“Good plan,” Coran said approvingly. The connection cut and Coran looked at the image of Pidge with a dazed look.  
“Coran? Are you okay?” Allura asked, not pausing her attack. Coran seemed to shake himself, looking over at her. “It’s just… Pidge. She reminds me so much of Maxe.”  
“I know. I see it too.” Allura wanted to hug him, reassure him that Maxe was still here in a way, but they didn’t have time. “Pidge?” She called, bringing the connection back. “I need you to get the Balmerans out of the way of the main structure. Free the ones already captured, and get them clear. We’re going to bring it down.”  
“Yes, Princess,” Pidge nearly cheered. “Everyone, get clear of the building.” Allura saw Pidge gesturing wildly to the Balmerans, then running forward to rescue those already chained up. Two went with her, both wielding guns and acting as bodyguards to Pidge.

Allura and Coran scanned the structure for weaknesses. It was a sound building but wasn’t totally solid. If Allura destroyed the beams spreading at angles from the building, she could bring the entire thing crashing down.

The castle located its targets, and Allura held the guns ready while Pidge got the Balmerans out of harm's way. Once they were a safe distance away, Allura fired. Her guns let out blast after blast, hitting their target each time. The Galra soldiers stopped firing, confused as to why the blast wasn't hitting them, then turned and saw what her intended target was. They began firing back at the castle, but it was too late. The beams weakened beyond repair, and the building crashed to the ground. Allura regretted the pain it would have caused the Balmera, but knew it was better than the alternative.

Distantly, Allura could hear Pidge cheering over the headsets. Unable to join in, Allura just let her head flop forward in relief. When this was all over, and they’d found the other Paladins, she really needed a few days just to relax. Or she tried to tell herself that she did. Realistically, Allura wouldn’t be able to rest until the Universe at least resembled safe. A pipe dream maybe, but she would use up every year of life she had left chasing that Pipe dream.

 

* * *

 

 

As soon as Allura’s feet were on the ground, she was surprised to have Pidge launch at her and pull her into a hug. “You guys are okay!” Pidge was still laughing.  
Allura couldn’t help but smile. “And you? You’re fine too?”  
Pidge nodded, then went to hug Coran. The advisor looked taken aback by the affection from Pidge, who generally wasn’t one for hugging, but returned the gesture enthusiastically. Given the destruction around them, it was an oddly peaceful moment.

The Balmerans approached the castle wearily, leaving some to tend to the unconscious members of their party. Allura took in their appearance quickly, they were taller than her by a few inches, covered in a light green fur with various white markings on top of their head and arms. Their faces were animalistic but intelligent. They also had opposable thumbs, she realised, which had allowed them to wield their weapons. “Is this yours?” One of them asked, looking at the Castle with distaste.  
“Yes, this is the Castle of Lions,” Allura explained. The same Balmeran just gave her another foul look.  
“A castle? It just flew?”  
She was taken aback by this question, but Coran chimes in helpfully. “It’s also a ship.”  
Pidge leant closer to Allura. “Don’t worry, that’s just Havvor. He’s like that to everyone.”

Allura turned to the Green Paladin. “Pidge, I’m glad you’re alright, but we still need to find the other Paladins.”  
Pidge’s face fell. “I’m the first you’ve found?”  
“Technically,” Coran interjected, “we know where the others are. We’ve located all the lions, yours was the closest so we came here first. We haven’t made contact with the other Paladins, though. They’re too far away for us to communicate.”  
“So we need to get you back to your lion, and leave as soon as we can,” Allura told Pidge.  
The Paladin hesitated. “There might be a problem there. Whatever the Druids did to the wormhole, it messed with the energy in my lion. Green won’t start back up, and I don’t know how to fix it.”  
Coran looked at Allura. “Do you know how?”  
She paused, wanting so badly to say she could, but having to shake her head. “No, I don’t. I can give energy to a Balmera, but manipulating quintessence?”  
“I think we can help with that,” another Balmeran said, stepping forward beside Havvor. Allura looked to Pidge. “This is Mala,” she said. There was a distracted look on her face. “What do you mean, you can help?”  
“We have experience with what the Druids can do to Quintessence, turn it dark and useless to all but those who practice dark arts. It sounds like that’s what happened to your lion.”  
Allura clenched her fists angrily. Of course. “But there’s a way to fix it?”  
This time it was Havvor who spoke. “We can show you.”

 

* * *

 

When they reached the Green lion, Allura could feel what Pidge meant about the Lions energy. She placed one hand on the metal and shivered. It wasn’t cold, but the feeling she got was just wrong. “You’re sure this will work?” She asked Havvor. He was the only Balmeran to come with them, assisting that would be enough.  
“The warrior child’s energy is connected to this ship. I couldn’t help it, the energy is different from other Quintessence I’ve performed the ritual on, but Pidge can. I will help.”  
“Alright, what do I do again?” Pidge asked, looking nervous. Havvor pulled her over to Green, talking in a low voice to her. Coran and Allura moved back a few steps, both of them worried. “What if she can’t fix the energy?” Coran whispered. “What happens then?”  
“The other lions will be like this too,” Allura whispered back. “If this doesn’t work, then it’s the end of Voltron.”

Pidge placed her hand on the Green Lion, looking to Havvor for cues as to what she should do. Havvor, who had backed away from the Lion, lowered his arms slowly to the ground. The vines that the Green Lion was tangled in started to slowly glow. “What’s happening?” Allura asked quietly. No one answered her, but she watched as Pidge closed her eyes. Beneath her hand, the Green Lion began to glow as well. Allura was startled to see the energy coming out was a dark purple, almost black. It looked like the druid’s version of Quintessence. Something started to happen, though, and the energy slowly turned lighter. Before too long, it was blue once again.

“It’s done, Pidge,” Havvor said. Still, Pidge didn’t stop.  
“Pidge,” Coran yelled, and the Paladin snatched her hand away. There was a startled look on her face. “Are you okay?” Coran asked.  
“Yeah, just got in a little deep there. It felt like he was trying to talk to me.”  
“He?” Allura questioned. “He who?”  
Pidge looked confused by the question. “My lion.” Coran and Allura exchanged glances, but the princess shook her head. It wasn’t the time for this conversation. “Does your lion work now?” She asked instead.  
Pidge grinned. “I give it the Holt guarantee.” As if to prove her point she ran inside her lion, disappearing from their sight.

A minute later, the eyes on the Green Lion started to glow with life. Slowly, as if stretching out, it rose to its full height and let out a roar. “Back in business,” Pidge said over the headset. Allura smiled at the words, but it didn’t quite feel genuine. They still had four Paladins to find, and a universe to save.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again. Editing doesn't exist. This is for nanowrimo alright forgive me.
> 
> I like this chapter though because of badass Pidge. I tentatively use the pronouns she/her but also Pidge isn't exactly binary. So. Interpret that how you like.
> 
> Also if you're looking at the word count for this and figuring I'm massively behind on nanowrimo, you would be wrong. I'm actually on track, just haven't uploaded to here is all :))
> 
> also nearly forgot but pinterest boards! hola
> 
> bayr: https://au.pinterest.com/lemonadc/bayr-oc/ (his colour scheme makes him look like a hufflepuff?? he probs is)  
> kera: https://au.pinterest.com/lemonadc/kera-oc/
> 
> it is surprisingly difficult to make a board for someone who's meant to have purple skin. I tried


	4. four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Hunk continue to be #bros

Hunk was possibly the nicest guy in the Universe, definitely the nicest on Earth, but Lance hated him at that moment. Just a little bit. It wasn’t anything that the big guy had done, Lance’s arm was just killing him. There wasn’t any blood, so he figured his left arm was just majorly bruised, or fractured, but _probably_ not broken. “We still sure this is a good idea?” Hunk asked him nervously. Lance took a pause from his internal monologue to give his friend a wide grin.

“You said it yourself. We need supplies if we want to survive in the long run.” He tried not to sound moody. Lance should be happy to be surrounded by water again. God, how many times had he wished to just _swim_ again? Guess that saying about being careful what you wish for had some thought behind it after all. “What are the chances we’ll be here in the long run?” Hunk argued. “The others will find us before too long.”

“If they survived,” Lance reminded him. 

Hunk scowled at that comment. “Way to ruin the mood.”

“ _What_ mood?”

 

They both drew silent as something swam past them at a terrifying pace. It passed only a few feet from them, a long dark silhouette that swept a strong surge of water in their direction. Hunk stopped swimming, peering after the dark shape even though it was long gone. “What was that?”

“Who knows.” Lance didn’t have a good feeling about this. Everyone knew that dark intimidating shapes that don’t stop to say hello are rarely friendly. “Whatever it is, it’s going somewhere fast.”

Hunk held the map up, now scaled down to a travel-friendly size. “It’s going straight towards where all the other life forms are. Look.” He pointed out a spot on the map. After a few moments of staring (the constantly moving water around them made the image fuzzy), Lance figured out what Hunk meant. The dot on the map that represented them wasn’t too far from a shape moving fast toward the cluster of rocks that appeared heavily inhabited. A place that was their current location.

 

Hunk gave him a pointed look. “I still vote we abandon my plan and go back to the lions. Maybe we’ll be able to fix them on our own?”

“Buddy,” Lance clapped him on the shoulder, “you have no follow through. Let’s go.” He swam ahead, leaving Hunk to make his own decision. Despite the yellow Paladin’s nervousness, Lance could see him following out of the corner of his eye.

 

The pain in his arm never ceased to bother him, but Lance kept swimming. It wasn’t the first time he’d had to swim at a time where he really shouldn’t be. The first time he went night swimming with his friends back home, Lance hadn’t been paying enough attention and had been swept into a reef. They’d been a considerable distance from shore, and Lance had scraped his leg. His friends had helped him swim to shore, but it had been the most agonising twenty minutes of his life. The whole way his leg had felt like it was burning. Lance hadn’t ever been able to imagine anything worse until he’d joined Voltron. Nearly being blown up and waiting hours to be healed took the number one spot so far. He wished there didn’t have to be a _so far_ at the end of that sentence.

 

The last ten minutes of swimming with Hunk _were_ pretty painful. The sea (ocean? Lake?) around them failed to get any lighter, and Lance couldn’t see anything past his torch. What he could see, was a lot of rock and not much else. The two of them had cautiously drifted down to the surface after checking the water pressure readings. It seemed safe enough, so they’d decided to risk it. It made navigating easier when they had a few more landmarks to help see their way. The map was also an incredibly helpful addition. “Thank god for you and Pidge,” Lance commented to Hunk at one point.

“It was mostly Pidge. She’s got a knack for coming up with these things,” Hunk shrugged.

“I know for a fact that building this wasn’t her handiwork. She may have done more work on the design, but she couldn’t put this together. You could.” Hunk only shook his head, not accepting the compliment.

 

The map was accurate, though. There weren’t any unexpected surprises, other than the dark figure they’d failed to realise was coming. When they were approaching the rock cluster, Lance took charge. “One of us should go first, scout the area for trouble,” he suggested, thinking aloud.

“I’ll do it,” Hunk suggested immediately. Thinking about it carefully, Lance shook his head.

“I think it’s better if I go in and you cover me.”

“But you’re the better sharpshooter.” It wasn’t a bad point, but irrelevant in the situation. Lance didn’t want his friend to go into danger, knowing Lance was there if he needed him, and Lance’s arm failing them both. “My weapon’s better suited to close combat than yours. As long as you don’t hit me, I’m sure it’ll all be fine.” Hunk didn’t look emboldened by his words, but Lance swam away anyways. Hunk followed, but at a larger distance.

 

They rounded a corner, and immediately Lance nearly dropped his bayard. The sight before him looked like something out of a cartoon. Instead of a huge pile of rocks, there was a towering castle built out of a pearly white material that gave off a soft light. Lance dimly wondered how the castle stayed so white when it was underwater. _Krill, it’s gotta be krill_. The alien version of it at least.

 

In fact, Lance was wondering what life forms did inhabit this castle, as none of them had shown themselves. He was almost tempted to start waving his bayard around singing if it would catch their attention. Whether he did or not, he had a feeling nothing would show itself. “Maybe the life forms were just really tiny creatures we can’t see?” Hunk suggested.

“Maybe,” Lance murmured. That didn’t explain whatever it was they’d seen before, though. “I’m going inside.”

“I’m coming too.” Hunk swam forward, leaving no room for argument. So much for one of them scouting.

 

* * *

 

The inside of the castle is just as desolate as the outside, the only difference being that it’s considerably lighter. Before entering, Lance knocked on the front entrance as loudly as he could (in water, it wasn’t so loud). “Anyone home?” Funnily enough, he didn’t get a reply. Lance shrugged at Hunk. “Guess we can go in then.”

Hunk followed. “How often do you let yourself into people's houses just because they aren’t home?” Lance laughed, not bothering to reply.

 

Oddly enough, this underwater castle seemed familiar to Lance. Something about the arches in the ceiling, the tiles on the floor, called to him. “Does this place remind you of something?” Lance asked as they swam. Hunk hesitated. “A horror movie?”

“Never mind.” In ways, the castle here was similar to the Castle of Lions. Lance supposed that could be why it reminded him of something. Hunk had other priorities. “I don’t get why we haven’t seen anyone yet.”

“Maybe you were right, and the life forms are all plankton or something?”

Hunk shook his head. “But then who built the castle? I just have a really bad feeling about this.”

 

At that moment, a sound behind them made Lance turn around. A tail flickered out of sight, and he gripped his bayard tighter. “Yeah, you may have a point with that bad feeling.”

Hunk turned as well, drawing his bayard that he’d left stored away because of the size of his gun. “I think those life forms found us.”

Obviously wise to the fact that Lance and Hunk knew they were there, their watchers stepped forward. Or rather, they _swam_. The first thing Lance saw were long tails, like those of a shark. The smooth dark blue skin faded into light grey scales, that disappeared under torso armour. The body above the tails looked like that of a human (ignoring the scales) but the faces were gaunt, fanged, scaled, and the hair looked more like seaweed. “Mermaids?” Hunk questioned, in a shocked voice. Lance echoed the sentiment. Mermaids weren’t exactly what he expected to find in Space. One of the mermaids snarled, baring his long fangs. “ _Vicious_ mermaids,” Lance corrected, backing away. “The Little Mermaid did _not_ prepare me for this.” Their attackers all wielded long spears, with the ends bearing a rusty metal of some kind. Lance would rather not get cut by one of those. It’d just be asking for an infection.

 

“Swim away?” He asked Hunk in a low voice. His friend looked over their shoulders.

“I don’t think that’s an option.” Lance glanced back quickly, seeing they were surrounded by the mermaids. “Oh, this is _really_ excellent.” He raised his bayard, taking aim at the mermaid in front of him. “Why don’t we talk this out?”

 

* * *

 

So, the mermaids didn’t want to talk it out. Instead, they’d launched forward, tackling Lance and Hunk into choke holds. Both the Paladins struggled against their grip, but to no end. Thankfully, the training they’d received from Allura and Coran kicked in and they both returned their bayards to the sheaths hidden in their uniform before any of their attackers could see what had happened. By the time the mermaids had thought to look for their guns, they were long gone. “Their weapons,” one of the mermaids pointed out. “They’re gone.”

One of the mermaids, whose face was adorned with a simple ringlet, snarled in Lance’s face. “Where are they?” She gripped his throat, claws digging into the skin. Despite barely being able to breathe, Lance still managed to give her a snarky answer. “You’d know better than me.” Apparently, she didn’t appreciate the comment and had motioned for whoever was holding them to drag him and Hunk away.

 

Now they were in what appeared to be a throne room, surrounded by hostile looking mermaids. Lance and Hunk had been chained together, with two guards each holding them to the ground on their knees. There was a throne in front of them, with a mermaid watching them. She (Lance wasn’t too sure with aliens sometimes but the mermaid looked like a _she_ ) gave them each a bored look. The expression concerned Lance. In his experience, bored leaders were _not_ fun to deal with. It gave them a tendency to connote cruel and amusing punishments on a whim. Lance had experienced plenty of those at the Garrison. 

 

“What are these?” She asked.

“Prisoners, my queen,” one of the guards told her. The queen flicked her gaze onto him, her stare icy cold.

“I can _see_ that. The chains did give me a hint, as odd as that may seem. I asked what these creatures _are_ , as in their _species_.” She drawled each word slowly as if talking to idiots. Maybe she felt she was.

“We’re humans,” Lance spoke up, testing the chains as he did so. They held strong. The queen gave him another glance that looked marginally less indifferent. “It speaks our language. A translator chip, perhaps?”

“A civilian saw them heading towards the castle, and alerted us to their presence,” the commander told the queen, bowing her head. “What should we do with them, sister?”

“So that one’s a princess then,” Hunk muttered. “An alien princess—that’s your type Lance, isn’t it?”

“Funny.”

The queen glared at them. “Silence.” When they both stopped talking, she turned back to her sister. “Find out who they are. Any means will suffice, as long as _one_ of them survives. They may prove valuable.” Her wordsweren’t exactly comforting.

 

The princess approached them as the queen stood and left the room. “Alone at last,” she snarled.

“Out of context, that sounds a lot like flirting,” Lance joked. He shivered when the princess’ glare focused on him. While the queen was all cold and ice, the princess was fire and fury. “First lesson. _Never_ insult a Myrian.”

“Species?” Hunk asked him.

“Guess so. Maybe mermaid isn’t a universal word?” Something solid and heavy collided with Lance’s face and his head cracked back into the floor. Somehow, the water didn’t cushion the blow. The guards dragged him back upright, and he realised that he’d just been hit by the princess’ tail. She drew a knife, pointing it at him threateningly. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Despite no-one seeming to have heard of Voltron in recent years, Lance decided not to take a chance. Instead, he simply smiled. The princess advanced on him.

“Wait!” Hunk, looking terrified, surged forward. It took both of his guards to hold him back.

“Hunk, shut up,” Lance warned him. The yellow Paladin looked between him and the knife with a worried face but nodded. The princess gave Hunk a curious look. “You’re worried about your friend?”

Hunk, wisely, kept his mouth shut. The damage was done, though. The princess turned back to Lance and came up close. He watched as she returned her knife to the sheath hanging around her waist. “You going to kiss the information out of me?” Lance joked weakly.

She tilted his head. In a terrifying way, the princess _was_ beautiful. “How am I meant to do that, when you’re wearing this helmet?”

 

Too late, Lance realised what the princess intended to do. It took him too long to react when she reached out and _yanked_. Caught short of breath, Lance could do nothing as the water flooded his lungs. _Don’t panic_ old advice emerged from his mind. _Keep calm, kick up to the surface_. Except he couldn’t do that. All Lance could do was clutch at his throat, restricted by the chains. Everything other thought fled from his mind. The only thing he could think about was the crushing weight on his chest, the need to breathe, the blackness creeping in on his vision. 

 

When he could breathe again, it took Lance a few moments to realise. His helmet had been returned, the water expelled from his lungs. As he took ragged breaths in and out, he could hear Hunk talking distantly. “—Voltron. We crash landed here. Please, we don’t mean any harm.”

“ _No_ ,” he croaked out, but it was barely more than a whisper. Hunk may not have even heard it through the headsets.

“Voltron? That’s a myth,” the princess scorned.

“It’s not.” Hunk, Lance, the princess and all the guards looked up when the Queen reentered the room. She was staring at the Paladins, at their uniforms. “I should have realised.” This was the part where people usually stared in awe, gave them praise and admiration. That, or they tried to kill them. “Lock them up,” the queen told the princess.

 

Despite the princess’ disbelief, she didn’t hesitate for a moment to follow her sister’s orders. “Put them in the cells down below,” she instructed the guards, and Lance felt himself being dragged back. One of them grabbed his arm, exactly where it hurt the most, and he felt himself flinch away. They kicked the back of his legs and forced him to go limp and compliant. Hunk had the strength to struggle more, Lance could see, but the mermaids (Myrians, whatever) were stronger. Both the Paladins were dragged away from the throne. Before they left the room, another Myrian came up to them. “Inject them with this,” Lance heard him tell the guards behind him, passing something to them. He craned his neck to try and see what it was, and his chains were yanked for his troubles. Before he could argue more, a sharp pain pricked his shoulder, and everything went black.

 

* * *

 

Narahn had never thought that Voltron was real. Not truly. Even when the Galra ships had come, and forced all the Myrian courts to bend to their will and told her of their hunt, had she thought the Altean robot could be real. Zarkon was a twisted madman, Narahn knew. Voltron seemed like the kind of fantasy he would have, encouraged by the crow of a druid he kept by his side. Then two Paladins had been dragged into her throne room and tortured by her sister and soldiers.

 

Being the queen meant Narahn had certain responsibilities. Protecting her people was the first and foremost of those. The Galra occupation forced her to become cruel and unbending in her rule. It was something her sister Nila had taken to like it was water. Narahn wasn’t bothered either way, but a part of her still remembered the more peaceful times her court had when she was young. The Galra had threatened that peace, and it was up to Narahn to maintain it.

  
What she was about to do was just one of the ways she did that. When she reached her private rooms, Narahn swam to the back of her bedroom. Hidden behind a wall, was a dark screen. Detecting motion, it lit up, showing her face reflected back. Alien technology was forbidden in her court, and yet here it was. The shame didn’t even comprehend anymore.

 

It took only a minute for her face to disappear from the screen, replaced by a Galra commander. Izra was one of the more reasonable Galra commanders that Narahn had had to deal with, but being a commander in Zarkon’s armies meant he had a streak of cruelty. “Narahn,” he greeted, disregarding her title completely.

She returned the favour. “Izra.” It was an effort to keep the anger from her voice. “You might want to be nice to me from now on.”

Izra made no attempt to disguise his annoyance. “Why should I be?”

She smiled. “I have something. Something the Galra has been looking for.”

 

* * *

Lance woke up in a cell. He had enough room to stretch his legs out lying on the floor, but none to roll onto his back. It made him wonder how Hunk, who was considerably larger in all ways, was faring. Then he realised he didn’t know where his friend was. Lance sat up quickly. “Hunk?”

The movement made his head spin, but Lance stood and gripped the bars of his cell to stay upright. “Buddy?”

In the darkness, Lance could see another cell opposite to him. Someone moved inside it, and he saw a flash of yellow. “Lance? Is that you?”

Relief flooded into him. “Yeah. You okay?”

Hunk laughed, coming up to the bars. “Am I alright? You’re the one who’s injured!” His voice was crackly over the headset, and Lance hoped that didn’t mean his helmet was running out of charge somehow. Allura had told them they couldn’t, but the suit was at least ten thousand years old. Who knew what happened to tech after that long.

 

“Figured a way out yet?” Hunk asked him. Lance laughed.

“I’m fresh out of ideas. Your turn.”

The mechanic shook his head. “I’m at a loss, honestly.” There was a pause. “Lance, our suits only have so much oxygen. How long were we out?”

Lance exhaled. “I… I don’t know. You’d think with all the fancy stuff our helmets do, they could at least give us an ETA on when the oxygen will run out?”

“The helmets! That’s it!” Hunk sounded way too excited considering they were currently locked up in cells. Lance frowned. “What?”

“They can do a terrain scan, right? So we can see if our cells have any structural weaknesses and bust out.” Lance couldn’t help his grin. He’d honestly lost count of the number of brilliant ideas Hunk had come up with in the last day alone. “Alright, let’s give it a try.”

 

Lance flicked his scanner on, doing a 360-degree turn in his cell. The next time he turned around, his vision flashed with cracks and potential targets. None of the walls gave him much of an option, and the only hope he had was in the cell door. The bars were solid, but the lock offered a weakness. It wasn’t much, but it was a chance. “You got anything?” Hunk asked him.

_Something_ was a strong word for it. “Maybe. Give me a minute.” Hand stretched out, Lance summoned his bayard. The gun was clunky in the cell, but it was his only option for the moment. Taking aim at the lock, Lance fired. His shot created a lot of dust, staring up a lot of muck, and he couldn’t see until it settled back down. When it did, his heart sunk.

 

His gun hadn’t even made a dent on the lock. It still stood strong, mocking him. Lance was trapped. 

 

* * *

“I think my back wall is weak at some points,” Hunk said loud enough so Lance could hear him. “If I shoot it down, I’ll be able to get to whatever is on the other side.”

“What if it’s a room full of soldiers?” Lance asked. It was a good point, and it made Hunk hesitate.

“Then, uh, that’s not good. But it’s probably not full of soldiers. Right?”

“Yeah, right.” The blue Paladin didn’t sound convinced, so Hunk elected to ignore him. Lance was entitled to his negative mood, considering the situation they were currently in. 

 

Hunk shoved his weight against the wall, sending it crumbling inwards. Along with the dark stone came a loose powder. “It’s full of sand,” he thought aloud. “It’s not packed in tight, though. That must mean it isn’t deep!”

“Great.” Something was definitely wrong with Lance, Hunk realised. His tone of voice was funny, and he sounded almost sad. “…What about your cell? Can you—“

“—Get out?” Lance sighed. “No. You’re going to have to try this one on your own.”

Hunk didn’t like that at _all_. “No way! I’m not leaving you here!” He drew in a breath keep going but Lance cut in over the top. “Hunk! It’s fine. I’m injured anyways, so if you need to fight out I’ll just hold you back. Think of it this way, if you leave me behind you can go get something from the lions and break me out. Yeah?”

“No,” Hunk growled. “Not _yeah_! What happens to you if they come down and find you here with me gone, huh?” Lance was crazy if he thought that Hunk was just going to leave without him. They were a team, not just because of Voltron but from their days at the Garrison together. Teammates didn’t leave each other behind. “I’ll be fine. Just _go_.”

Hunk really didn’t like this, but the damage was done. His wall was ruined, and this might be their only chance at an escape. “I’ll be back.”

“You’d better be.”

 

Pushing stone out of his way, Hunk eyed the sand blocking his way. It was slowly filtering into the cell, leaving a small space. He dug more sand out with his hands, speeding up the progress. Soon enough, he could see the outside of the castle within reach. “The way’s clear,” he told Lance. Climbing up over the sand, he couldn’t see his friend anymore.

“Good, that’s good. Keep an eye out for guards,” Lance told him. Sure enough, two swam around the corner just within eyesight. Hunk ducked down until they passed. “Good advice,” he whispered. Hunk swam forward, eyes peeled. So far the area appeared deserted, but he couldn’t be sure. He only wished that he hadn’t lost the map when they were attacked, a fact Hunk hadn’t realised until he’d woken up in the cell. It hadn’t seemed important at the time, but now it would be more than useful. Hopefully, the Myrian’s didn’t figure out what it was, or how to use it, or they could be watching him right now.

 

It took him a few minutes to get clear of the castle. When he had to traverse across open space, Hunk was constantly reaching for his bayard. As far as Hunk knew, he hadn’t been spotted, but that didn’t stop him from feeling like he was being watched. Lance stayed silent the entire time, and Hunk kept checking in on him. “Lance? Still there?”

“Well, I’m not dead yet.”

Hunk didn’t laugh. “I’m nearly back to the rocks.”

“Alright, get to cover. Try not to talk too loudly, I don’t know how well these guards can hear.”

That comment made Hunk stop dead. “Guards?”

“Yeah, prison guards. I can hear them down the hall. They haven’t come up here yet, but it won’t be too long I suppose.”

“ _Lance_.”

“Hunk, don’t come back. Besides, what can they do? I still have my bayard after all.” That did ease his worries a little. As long as Lance was smart, which he was despite everyone’s doubts, he couldn’t be permanently disarmed. Hunk knew the blue Paladin could hold his own until Hunk figured something out. Pushing his doubts aside, Hunk continued making his escape. “If you’re sure…”

“I am. I think the water’s interfering with our communications. You’re fading out a bit there…” Lance’s voice disappeared completely. Hunk tried to get it back but could hear nothing from the other pilot. He supposed it was bound to happen. Communication through the water wasn’t exactly simple after all. The only way he would be able to hear the other pilot was by going back.

 

Hunk reached the rocks and began contemplating his next move. As he glanced around, he noticed a series of lights approaching the castle. Frowning, he shielded his eyes out of habit and peered at the sight. As it came closer, he began to realise it was a ship. Something about it grated on his nerves, so Hunk waited for it to land. It came closer and closer to his direction before settling down in front of the castle. When it did, illuminated by the castle as it was, Hunk could finally see what it was about the ship that it bothered him. It was a Galra ship. He realised that prison guards may now be the least of Lance’s worries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so Lance is in a bit of trouble.
> 
> No oc's with pinterest boards to mention in this chapter. Yay?  
> Also Nila is a bitch. Just realised that her name is similar to Nyma's so maybe that's why. I'm writing this in episode format btw and we just hit the end of episode 1. Yay?
> 
> ((episode one was 20k words kill me))


End file.
